Summer Institute in Computational Social Science

From June 20 to July 1, 2022, the Center for Research in Economics and Statistics will sponsor the Summer Institute in Computational Social Science.

The purpose of the Summer Institute is to bring together scholars interested in computational social science. The Summer Institute is open to social scientists, and computer scientists (a few seats will be reserved for people working professionally at this intersection, such as data journalists).

The program will involve lectures in the morning, lab sessions in the afternoon, and guest lectures in the evening. During the second week, the participants will take part in group work aimed at advancing a research project.

Topics covered include data collection (website scraping, cleaning, and restructuring), and a series of lectures on various strategies to carry out research in the digital age (agent-based modeling, digital field experiments, nowcasting), methods (natural language processing, machine learning), and ethics.

Participants will have ample opportunities to discuss their ideas and research with the organizers, with other participants, as well as with the dozen of guest speakers. Because we are committed to open and reproducible research, all materials created for the Summer Institute will be released open-source.

The Paris Summer Institute is geared toward Ph.D. students, postdoctoral researchers, and early career stage faculties. Advanced Master students may also apply. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds, especially applicants from groups currently under-represented in computational social science. Although we will prioritize applicants from Europe, we are also keen on building bridges across continents. Scholars from Africa are thus highly encouraged to apply and their travel costs can be covered.

Housing and some meals will be paid for by grants from CREST. We will also offer a few travel allowances to participants who would need (and request) one. About 20 participants will be invited. Participants are expected to fully attend and participate in the entire two-week program.

Application materials are due February 28.

The evening talks are open to the public. People who want to attend are asked to register upfront through the following form. The talks will take place on the premises of ENSAE, 5 Avenue Henri le Chatelier, 91120 Palaiseau in room Amphi 200.